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Welcome to Day 1 of 30. Last weekend during the Gathering at Oaklawn church of God, I had everyone write a favorite verse of Scripture, or a "life-verse", on a slip of paper, then we taped them to the door frames of the four exits from the main auditorium (for my inspiration, see Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Afterwords, I had the idea to grab 30 of those passages and write a series of 30 blog entries over 30 days (give-or-take, if you know me). I'm actually going to begin with my personal "life-verse":

"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!" - Psalm 30:11-12 (NLT)

These words have been a part of me since I attended a concert with my good friend, Justin, back in our college days in Oklahoma City. Playing that night were Five Iron Frenzy, Joy Electric, and my favorite band The Echoing Green. When the Echoing Green took the stage, I was front and center as the lead singer, Joey stepped up to the microphone. The familiar sounds of the beginning of one of my favorite "child-of-the-80s" cover tunes began - "The Safety Dance" - and Joey asked, "Anybody remember the 80s? (YEAH!)" Then looking heavenward, he shouted out, "You have turned my mourning into dancing!"

In that moment everything inside me that have ever said, "God wants nothing to do with you" -the ultimate in mourning - met this loving, merciful God head on... and I knew the deepest truth: LOVE WINS!

See, I had always had a "peculiar" taste in music. And the general attitude that I perceived from those around me was that God didn't like or approve of "that kind of music." Synthesizers, drum-machines, guitars? Nope, not allowed if you're going to be loved by God. Now, in this moment with the Echoing Green playing all of the above instruments with live drums and bass and... get this, kids... TURNTABLES! I felt Grace and Peace wash over me as I understood in my soul that God loves me enough to put Himself right in the middle of the exact kind of music that I related to.

As I reflect, I realize that my mourning was not about music at all. My sadness was about my disconnect from the One who created me, and desired to be completely connected with me. That night Jesus turned my mourning into dancing, and I will sing His praises forever and NOT be silent!

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